Windows movie maker license Archives

Windows Movie Maker is a simple and free video editor from Microsoft.  Officially it’s no longer available but it’s still available if you know the magic spell.

We’ve explained how to get the much-loved Office Picture Manager even though it’s been officially removed from Office.

Movie Maker was part of Windows Essentials, a package of free programs from Microsoft.  Most of them are either defunct (Messenger) or superceded (Editor), only Movie Maker still has a place.

As a simple video editor, Windows Movie Maker is great.  You can put together video clips, add captions, audio, titles and end credits.  Various effects, animations and transitions are available.

Use WMM to make a short video for insertion into a PowerPoint presentation.

Windows Movie Maker 2012 works fine on Windows 10,  Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 7.

Officially, Microsoft has stopped supplying Windows Essentials 2012 (the last release).  For a while you could still downloaded the small installer (wlsetup-web.exe 1.2MB)  from Microsoft.com but that app can’t grab the larger install files.

The Whole Package

Microsoft also released Windows Essentials 2012 as a single ‘all inclusive’ download – wlsetup-all.exe 134MB .  This single file has all you need to install Windows Movie Maker and other apps.

It’s safe practice to only download programs from original, known and trusted sources …  but this is an exception. Since you can’t get the download from Microsoft (unless it’s hiding somewhere on Redmond’s many servers) you’re forced to look elsewhere.

For some years the full install was on Live.com – a Microsoft owned domain. But that link no longer works.

Exclusive Download

We’ve made a copy of the download available to our free newsletter subscribers.  The Exclusive Subscriber Downloads page is available in every issue.

Join Office Watch  and Office for Mere Mortals today.

The download link, and a lot more, will be in the first issue you receive.

Keep it

We strongly suggest keeping and storing safely the Windows Essentials 2012 full installer.  That will save you hunting around and downloading again if you need to reinstall.

Rename  to something more obvious like:

that keeps the original file name plus enough extra words to make it easy to find.

Installation

Installing Windows Essentials 2012 is simple.  Don’t use the default ‘Install all’ option.  Instead select ‘Choose the programs you want to install’.

Then deselect everything except ‘PhotoGallery and Movie Maker’.  From there the installation should proceed normally.

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Microsoft has released Windows Live Movie Maker on August 19, 2009 as part of a refresh to their Windows Live Essentials download. Windows Live Movie Maker is the first application designed for Windows 7 and is built to make beautiful movies from your photos and videos. And the latest version is Windows Live Movie Maker 2011.

Update in 2017: Microsoft has stopped the Windows Essentials Suite support on January 10, 2017. It is claimed that it is no longer available for download. If you are looking for an alternative to windows essentials movie maker, or the windows movie maker, try Filmora9 video editor, which is available on both Windows7, Windows8 and Windows 10.

Part 1: Best Alternative to Windows Movie Maker: Filmora9 [Windows7/8/10 & Mac]

Windows Live Movie Maker is a little bit limiting for video editing. In most cases, you need to run Windows 7. Fortunately, you do have other options. There is plenty of software which will do the same thing but better than Windows Live Movie Maker for you to edit your videos and burn videos to DVD. Among many of them, we recommend one Wondershare Filmora9. You may wonder what's so special with this Video Editor. First of all, it supports almost all kinds of video formats, such as AVI, MP4, MPG, MPEG, 3GP, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, DAT, MOV, MKV and HD video formats: MTS, M2TS(AVCHD H.264), TS(MPEG-2), HD MKV(H.264, MPEG-2 HD), HD WMV(VC-1), and HD MOV(H.264, MPEG-4). Secondly, it provides powerful video editing function, such as crop, trim, adjust video effect, add watermark, etc. Also, there are various title and text templates, filter/transition and effects presets for you to choose from. Thirdly, Windows Live Movie Maker can only generate WMV files directly, but this video editor supports burn video to DVD disc, DVD Folder and ISO file or save the video to most of the popular formats.

Part 2: How to Edit Videos in Windows Live Movie Maker [Step by Step]

1.Add Videos and Photos

While you are adding videos to Windows Live Movie Maker, you may encounter a problem like 3GP files can't be added to Windows Live Movie Maker. Or it can't be played in Window Live Movie Maker. And many other video files as well, such as RM, RMVB, DAT and HD video formats: MTS, TS, HD MKV, HD WMV, and HD MOV, etc. It's quite necessary to get familiar with what all those files that could be imported to Windows Live Movie Maker.

Notes

• Video and music files that are protected with digital rights management (DRM) can't be used in Windows Live Movie Maker.
• Support for using MPEG-2 and Microsoft Recorded TV Show video files in your movie is available only if your computer is running one of the following editions of Windows Vista or Windows 7: Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate.
• AVCHD video files that contain Dolby Digital audio can be used in Windows Live Movie Maker if your computer is running one of the following editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate.
• MPEG-4 video files that contain AAC audio can be used if you're using Movie Maker on a computer running Windows 7.
• Some MPEG-4 video files can be used when you're using Movie Maker on a computer running Windows Vista if the necessary audio and video codecs are installed.

After adding your photos or videos, you can also add audio or background music to your video clips by clicking the Add music option.

Learn details about How to Add and Edit Music in Windows Movie Maker

2. Video Editing

As we said before, Windows Live Movie Maker (later named Windows Movie Maker) is a simple and easy video editing software for Windows, it can complete some basic video editing and become a good choice for novices. Here, I will share with you about the basic video editing tutorial in the Movie Maker.

Cut & Trim & Split video in Windows Movie Maker

After adding videos and photos to the storyboard, you can now keep the useful sections and remove unwanted parts. To trim video, just place the playhead to the target position and right click the clip to select the Trim Set Start Point and move the playhead again to then end point and right click to select Set End Point. You can also go to the Edit tab and click the Split menu to split the video into parts. You can then delete and cut out unwanted sections or move it to the proper position.

Add Audio to Video: Record and add voiceover or Music

Windows Movie Maker also allows you to add narrations and background music to video footage. Just click the Add Music option and you can add music from online music libraries such as AudioMicro, Free Music Archive, and Vimeo or add music from the computer.

Add auto movie themes to Video

There is a built-in AutoMovie themes library in Movie Maker. You can use some popular themes such as Contemporary, Cinematic, Fade, Pan and Zoom, Black and White and Sepia.

Add texts &titles to Video

You can add titles, captions, and credits to video with windows movie maker, but it seems hard to add subtitles and customize its position. For more details about the text and title editing, check

Learn more details about How to Add Text to Video with Windows Movie Maker

Apply transitions & animations to video

The Movie Maker features lots of transitions under Animations tab. You can choose from wipes, cinematics, shatters, sweeps and curls, patterns and shapes, reveals, diagonals and dissolves.

Note: if you use the default themes, you won’t see all these transitions. Check the detailed steps about How to Add Transitions in Windows Movie Maker

Apply visual effects to video

We’ve introduced some of the best visual effects software before, but in Windows Movie Maker, you can also add effects such as 3D Ripple, Black and White, Blur, pixelate, mirrors, motions and fade effects.

Change video speed of video

The Movie Maker Edit tab allows you to adjust video volume, add fade in and fade out effects to video, or change video speed.

Learn more details about How to Speed Up Video in Windows Movie Maker

3. Save Video

After finish editing, you can upload your video clips to Facebook, YouTube, and other social media, or burn your videos to DVD with Windows DVD maker. You can also save your video clips on your computer.

You may also like: Windows Movie Maker VS Windows Live Movie Maker: What's the Difference

While, if you find the windows movie maker editing features are limited based on your editing skills, you can try Wondershare Filmora9. Below is the latest video tutorial about how to edit videos with Filmora9. This video is unlisted on YouTube, please let me know if you need any more helps in the comment below.

Liza Brown is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Scammers have been surprisingly successful at distributing a modified version of Windows Movie Maker that aims to collect money from unaware users. The spread of the scam (which itself is far from new) has been boosted by search engine optimization of the crooks’ website, as well as continuing demand for Windows Movie Maker, Microsoft’s free video editing software, discontinued since January 2017.

At the time of writing, the website spreading the modified software, ‘windows-movie-maker.org’, comes up as one of the top results when searching for “Movie Maker” and “Windows Movie Maker” on Google (using this browser, it ranks as number one in the majority of countries with the highest number of internet users). On Bing, the search engine with the second largest global market share, the website is also placed on the first page of results.

ESET security products detect the scam as Win32/Hoax.MovieMaker and block the website distributing it. We have notified both Google and Microsoft about the fraudulent nature of the high-ranking website (which was registered back in 2010).

Figure 1 – High Google ranking for the scam website

Figure 2 – The scam website

As a consequence of the website’s high search engine ranking, the crooks behind the scam have managed to reach a global “audience”, with the modified Windows Movie Maker emerging among the most prevalent threats in ESET’s telemetry in the past few days.

On November 5, 2017, Win32/Hoax.MovieMaker was the third most detected threat worldwide and the number one threat in Israel. As of November 6, our telemetry recorded many detections in the Philippines, in Israel, Finland and Denmark.

Figure 3 – Win32/Hoax.MovieMaker as the third most prevalent threat worldwide

How the Windows Movie Maker Scam works

When users install the software offered on the above-mentioned website, they get a functioning Windows Movie Maker. However, unlike the official and free Windows Movie Maker by Microsoft, this one claims to be a trial version that needs to be upgraded to a full version in order to offer all features.

The user is repeatedly prompted to purchase the full version, first when the software is launched and later when the user tries to save a new document. In the latter case, the prompt prevents the user from continuing, making it appear as if saving a document was a paid feature.

Figure 4 – Payment prompt displayed by the modified Movie Maker upon saving a document

The price requested for the fake upgrade is set to $29,95, in what is presented as a 25% discount on the payment website used by the crooks.

Figure 5 – Payment website used by the scammers

How to stay safe from Windows Movie Maker Scam

If you’ve already installed the Movie Maker offered on windows-movie-maker.org, uninstall it and run a scan using a reputable antimalware solution.

To avoid falling victim to similar scams, always stick to official sources when downloading software. If you really need to use a piece of software that’s no longer distributed by its original maker, make sure you:

• Use a reliable security solution to detect and block malicious content.
• Consider using the official replacement for the discontinued software – in this case, Windows Story Remix.
• Don’t pay for software that is or was officially offered for free. Information on software pricing should be available online.

Indicators of compromise

1060D7935EADB8AAD06EDD1BEBFBF0FD3F7356D8

4F91C0F1AF523B914BA319A7CA02FF79CD02ED6F

6E57AC0812DE0D473DE669CBBAAEF1903995E59F

3886F28150EC74CC61B7A736147B6307A266B0B3

3F0D346FF54A62C2F6E4F7B348D68D0D6E27B981

529017D113BDCECAF1B1FC4DF9555518251A8C7A